


Blood and Iron

by Angelchexmex, Imaginary_Raine, Salllzy



Series: Unusual pairings [3]
Category: John Wick - Fandom, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, BAMF John Wick, BAMF Tony Stark, Biting, Bloodplay, Claiming Bites, Guns, Gunshot Wounds, Injury Recovery, Knifeplay, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2020-06-29 03:59:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19822078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelchexmex/pseuds/Angelchexmex, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imaginary_Raine/pseuds/Imaginary_Raine, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salllzy/pseuds/Salllzy
Summary: The high table and it's members have always been aware of Tony Stark, they even have protection detail on him.But that is mainly due to the fallout that his death would cause, enter John Wick.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So after a nice healthy debate, arguing and all the hurt that many Mcu fans have suffered from civil war onwards.
> 
> We created this because if we can't protect Tony Stark?
> 
> Well we all know a assassin who can.

_If I had my way Mr, Stark, you would already be tied to your bed screaming my name._ \- John Wick

* * *

Being a contract killer of any calibre or even being a bodyguard for certain families meant that the person would have to have some part of the criminal underworld and being a member of that underworld was not an easy or pleasant experience by any means. It was, however, necessary.

Some rules had to be obeyed and for the most part, they were. Some rules could be bent and some that were merely courtesy and could be disregarded at will, however, three golden rules were never meant to be broken. Breaking these rules guaranteed death and while tragic and terrible death wasn't enough to discourage people, the Boogeyman was. No one wanted the Boogeyman after them after all. Luckily, the rules were fairly easy to follow.

1) No business on Continental grounds.

2) A blood mark must always be honoured.

3) No public figures are to be assassinated.

The third one stemmed from when two rivals had paid to have each other assassinated, neither of them caring about the consequences. The consequences were, of course, both of them dying and a whole country was thrown into complete turmoil. Jobs were lost, houses destroyed, riots in the streets, contracts were made null and void and many families were financially ruined, even the underworld had been badly affected, many assassins had been unable to get reliable jobs in the country. 

Some underworld workers went nearly a year before they were able to work again and in the criminal underworld that wasn't a good thing, not if they wanted to continue living. Reputations are how you make money. No reputation meant no work, no work meant no money, and with no money, well then where would you be?

It had been a very vicious cycle that had been incredibly difficult, almost impossible, to break. In the end, it had taken the high table getting involved for the issue to be resolved and proper order restored.

However that didn't mean that people didn't try and break the rules, they did. They didn't succeed, however, and, more often than not, they failed rather epically. In other words, every broken rule always ended with a mess of blood, body parts, and piles of dead bodies. But the main thing those bloody remains did was serve as a very clear warning to others: break the rules at your own risk.

Because of the third rule, there was one person who no one wanted to touch and that person was Tony Stark.

The man could cripple the entire world if he wanted and everyone knew it. Only a fool thought otherwise and while some of the higher-ups of the criminal underworld had even stopped several assassination attempts on the man's life, it didn't change the fact that Tony Stark was a very, very dangerous man who most likely could have handled the issue himself. He was also at the heart of many debates in the underworld. The amount of political power that man had was staggering and it was also incredibly worrying and frustrating, how could one man have that much power? Not to mention what he could do with all that power.

However, the answer to that question lies in the fact that his power wasn't limited to one country. No, Stark was capable of influencing the entire world and they knew it. All of which was frustrating enough, then the man went and turned a company from multimillion to multibillion. 

All while he was developing clean energy, phones, computers, etc. You name it, he's built it and helped his company to recover from a 53 point drop in stocks while he continued to design and build. The underworld knew just how fickle the stock market could be, considering that many of the higher up members had legal business to hide their far shadier dealings. They made sure to pay their taxes as well, no one had forgotten how Al Capone got caught, to say it was embarrassing was an understatement.

Then there was the fact that Tony had managed to survive multiple kidnappings and assassination attempts by himself and from a very young age, one of them back when he was just six years old. Some of them had found it amusing that a group of adults had been outsmarted by a six-year-old. The fact that he had been so young proved how resourceful he was, and as he got older he only got better at escaping such situations.

Since most of Tony's kidnappers had been hired from the underworld everyone had known the quality of skill that they possessed, that didn't stop them from being killed afterwards for breaking a golden rule. Well, those that hadn't already been killed by their employer for failure at least.

But it hadn't changed the fact that Tony had been able to outsmart them as a child and then as a teenager. That by itself was a large testament to his intelligence, his skills and just how completely and utterly unpredictable the child had been and just how unpredictable the man would end up being. Logical? No, it wasn't likely but Winston had seen just what a little spitfire child he had been, and he knew then. Tony was one to watch and Winston hadn't been wrong.

However, this was without the fact that he had created a fully functioning AI as a teenager, that made many of them wary. Creating artificial intelligence was nothing to scoff at, so creating a learning artificial intelligence and then creating more than one meant terrifying things. The man's intelligence was beyond frightening.

A rather large number of assassins were glad and greatly relieved that he had decided to leave them alone, there was no way that a man like Tony Stark didn't know about the underworld that was filled with some of the best hitmen, assassins and bodyguards in the world. Some of the younger and greener ones may believe that they were untouchable, but the older ones knew. The people who had been doing this job for decades knew better, the fact that they were still alive was a testament to their knowledge and acceptance of Tony Stark's power. They did not want to earn Tony Stark 's ire, he would destroy them before they had a chance to blink and they knew that for a fact. They'd seen it happen, after all.

Although whether it was by legal means or not was still up for debate, there was no telling what a man like that was capable of. Which caused many of them to wonder just how far Tony Stark could be pushed, when and where was the limit? While some of them did wonder, others didn't, it wasn't wise to antagonise a man like that.

However, there was one man who didn't care for the finer details of being a hitman or a member of the underworld, as far as John Wick was concerned politics were not for him. That wasn't to say that he didn't understand politics and their intricacy, he did understand them and was very well acquainted with them, the truth was he simply didn't care for them. He had other things to worry about, such as getting the newest bullet wound fixed, the last thing that he wanted was to bleed out in the middle of New York. That and it was a completely and utterly undignified way for him to go, he was the fucking Boogeyman for God's sake! He was the one that the other assassins were wary of, he was the one that they feared.

So he wasn't going to die in the goddamn fucking gutter like a dog!

Gritting his teeth John forced himself to keep walking, once he was at the Continental he would be safe, only an idiot went against Winston. That and the medical care was some of the best around, the fact that there was a doctor always on call was just a bonus. But the main thing that John was looking forward to sleeping in a bed, sleeping in a car was not good for him or his back.

But if there were two things that John knew was luck is a fickle thing and life did not go the way anyone wanted it, no matter how much you wanted it to. So it didn't come as a shock when he found a dead body in a pool of still-warm blood in the middle of the street, the fact that it was outside of Stark industries was slightly unusual. John wanted to curse, of all the god damn fucking shitty things to happen, this was not his night.

Still, he wasn't going to allow someone to break one of the three golden rules, no matter how much it would make life easier for him. John grunted as the bullet wound throbbed in pain, reminding him just why he was walking this way, to begin with. A scowl formed on his face, he wanted a drink, no several drinks. Every one of the bourbon. What a fucking shitty night this was turning into, couldn't he have one normal night? Just one that was all he was asking for.

"Stupid fucking morons making my night more difficult." Quietly grumbling to himself John entered the main entrance for Stark industries.

The first thing that hit him was the familiar smell of copper John knew the smell very well it meant fresh blood. The entire area reeked of the coppery smell of blood, that was when John noticed all the bodies. Someone had come here in force but had met some resistance. Judging from the way that the bodies were positioned on the floor they had not been expecting such resistance either, John had no sympathy for any of them, they were the fools for underestimating a man like Tony Stark.

What was slightly unusual and possibly disturbing to anyone who wasn't called John Wick, was the rapidly growing number of dead bodies, to John it was the same number as a small army or a black-ops task force. Either one of them was a very real possibility at the moment, which meant that whoever this was wanted Tony Stark either captured alive or killed by any means necessary.

Both were very likely, but John had no way of knowing what the orders were, John knew one thing for certain. This attack would have to be reported, someone had broken or had tried to break one of the rules. John scowled this had just gotten a lot more bloody complicated, wonderful. 

Making sure that he was as silent as possible John began moving further into the building, and the further John got into the building the more it looked like a massacre, the floor was sticky with congealing blood. If he had been anyone else John would have thrown up from the smell alone, and even with all of his years and his training from the marines and his years as a hitman this was still slightly disturbing to him. Brain matter splattered against a glass door, bloody handprints smeared across white walls, glass doors and even on an elevator. A severed hand was trapped in between the elevator doors, the door trying to close, repeatedly squishing the hand. 

Blood was turning into a disgusting brown colour, the sound of someone choking on their blood reached John's ears. He knew that there wasn't anything he could do but grant them a quick and merciful death, maybe if he had arrived sooner. But there was no way of telling if they would have had a better chance of survival if he had arrived earlier, John looked around and quickly pinpointed where the noise was coming from, in three quick strides he stood over the body of a young man. To John he didn't look any older than twenty if he was lucky, John reached behind him and pulled out his spare gun. He looked at the young man and murmured.

"Sorry." With that he fired his gun, the bullet hitting the young man in between his eyes.

But not before John had seen the gratitude in the young man's eyes before he died, in the end, he had been grateful for the release. John knew what it was like to choke on your blood, he knew how painful it was. To feel as if every breath was a fight, to wonder if the next one you took was your last. John pushed the memory to one side, he had a job to do. He shouldn't, couldn't allow it to affect him, even though deep down John knew that it was starting to. Being a hitman was slowly destroying what was left of his humanity and he knew that was a fact and not speculation.

Stepping over rapidly cooling dead bodies was something that he was used to, it shouldn't disturb him anymore, but what was disturbing him was how young some of them were. From what he could see some of them were lucky if they were twenty, he had seen a body that couldn't be any older than fifteen, possibly sixteen at a push. In the underworld you had to prove yourself before you were sent on a mission, even then there was a more experienced agent sent with them. They didn't just let them loose on the world and hope for the best, whoever this was they were very sloppy and inexperienced or very overconfident in their abilities.

Either way, it is not John's problem, his main problem is getting to the top floor saving Tony Stark, stopping the world from falling apart and then getting the god damn bullet wound fixed. Hopefully in that order. The fact that he was in pain was just making him slightly more grumpy than normal, that wasn't to say that he was a social butterfly normally, he wasn't. If anything he avoided people as if they had the plague although to John they most likely did.

A bullet grazed his cheek caused John to take notice of the sniper on the floor above, having walls made out of glass was strange and possibly a disadvantage or maybe for some it was an advantage, John could quite easily see the advantage to having glass walls. People wouldn't be able to sneak in or upon anyone in the building, and that should push come to shove the glass could be broken and used as a weapon. John planned on doing exactly that, besides they were the ones stupid enough to get caught by him.

A savage smile began to form on his lips, blood began roaring in his ears. His heart was beating like a war drum, it was a familiar tune and one of the very few that he didn't resent on principle. As far as he was concerned, people could think that he was an uneducated and uncultured savage, but John knew the truth and that was good enough for him.

This was what he was good at, diving behind an overturned desk John looked to see if he could find a large shard of glass, once he had found a suitable piece he quickly moved from behind the desk. Firing his gun once John didn't even wait for the bullet to reach its destination before he launched the piece of glass that he found. John knew that he had hit his target when the sound of a dull thud filled the air, the pool of blood that was forming under the body told John that they were dead or they would be very soon. If it had been anyone else they would have been impressed by their performance, but John was not like normal people, he didn’t take pleasure in what he was doing. To him, it was just a job.

As John moved from floor to floor he noticed that there were far more dead on the upper floors than on the ground floor, which meant that he was nearing his target. John wasn't one to hope firmly believing that it was a waste of time, but right now he was hoping that it was going to be over soon. He was starting to get dancing black spots in his vision, which was not good in the slightest. The last thing that he needed was to lose consciousness.

"Shit! Its Baba Yaga, fuck, run!" John didn't even bother to look at the person who was trying to run away, well at least one of them had sense. Well better late than never.

That didn't mean that John was going to let them go, oh no, without even aiming or looking John shot them in the leg. He would take them back with him to the Continental, there would be some very serious questions asked. There was also the very real possibility of the high table getting involved.

"Stay, sit, good boy." The mocking tone in John's voice was not missed, not if the glare was anything to go by.

With careful steps John moved through the hallway, his heartbeat was steady; this was what he was good at. This was what he had always been good at, killing. The sound of gunshots echoed through the empty hallway, causing John to pause for a split second. Was he too late?

John didn't think the next part through, picking up his pace he kicked open the door only to pause. He had been expecting to see the lifeless body of Tony laid on the floor with a pool of blood under him, not to see Tony disarming an armed man with ease.

John felt his suit get rather tight and uncomfortable, this was rather unexpected.

"You are late, I thought the high table would have sent someone sooner." Whiskey brown eyes were hard, John was able to make out the outline of a gun. Although what type he wasn't able to say, not unless he was able to get a closer look.

John knew that Tony Stark was an attractive man, it was impossible not to know. What he hadn't been prepared for was how affected he would be, which was strange and highly irritating. This was not what he had signed up for, however that didn't mean that he wouldn't enjoy the view.

However that wasn't going to be possible, as the adrenaline wore off his body began to viciously begin to protest, then the bloodloss made itself known. John felt his world tilt and begin to darken, the next thing that John was aware of falling.

He didn't feel the arms that caught him before he hit the blood-covered floor face first.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony looks into some things and JARVIS....well JARVIS is just the best, and, possibly, too much into the internet.

_Trust me when I tell you this Jonathan, Tony Stark is a star and if you are not careful? You will end up burned_. -Winston.

* * *

Tony Stark had many masks, each one painstakingly crafted to suit his purpose. So he could tell when someone was telling the truth or when someone was faking it after he had gotten his guest settled he began to review the footage from the attack. Tony expected to see blood, violence and a lot of death, but what he didn't expect to see was his guest going feral. There might have been a better way to describe it, but the way that he fought?

It was wild, untamed, violent and animalistic.

If Tony didn't know better then he would have assumed that it was an animal that had done some of those wounds, but looking at the footage from every angle, Tony could see the moment that the shift happened. It was beautiful. Although maybe saying that it was beautiful was strange and incredibly weird, but it was the truth. Tony wondered if his guest had any modifications to him, he was the right age and judging from the tattoos that Tony had seen he was a former marine as well. Which means at some point he would have been under the command of Ross, who was known for his human experiments. Bruce Banner was a prime example of it, many people knew that Ross had altered the formula that Banner had been working on. The Hulk was Ross's fault.

So his guest might have had some sort of genetic modifications done to him, but whether it was consensual or not was still up for debate. But it did present a problem if he did have modifications then how was Tony going to deal with it?

Tony was no fool he knew that if there were genetic modifications involved then Tony needed to figure out what it was, but on the other hand, the high table didn't employ slouches. So which one was it?

That was the big question and one that Tony didn't have an answer to and most likely wouldn't get an answer to until his guest woke up, but that was fine by Tony it gave him time to find out just who his guest was.

* * *

Well shit.

Tony leaned back in the chair, clean up was well underway and he was safely back in Malibu. He also had a name for his guest, John Wick. It was utterly unexpected, although Tony knew that the high table was very invested in keeping him alive. But that was to keep him alive and stop the world falling into chaos, they didn't care about him. They didn't have feelings, friends or sentiment.

Although the Administrator was an occasional drinking partner, Tony and the Russians didn't get on and they tended to avoid him. Which was easier said than done, not that Tony cared all that much. But John Wick was the best of the best and he worked for the Russians, which was such a shame.

But it gave him an idea, the Russians had already pissed him off with their most recent stunt and he had been itching to get some revenge. No one insulted his family and got away with it, so now he was going to destroy them. Starting by getting rid of their best assassin, then would come the financial ruin and then all of their illegal activities would end up being plastered all over the Internet. Tony watched as the medical team left one by one, a calculating gleam in his eyes, Tony knew that he had far more to offer John Wick. Better equipment for starters, that was without his medical team, his lawyers and a very dedicated PR team. But the main thing?

There would be a do not disturb order on him, John Wick for all intents and purposes would be classed as 'retired'. There was only one way of getting out of the underworld and that was in a body bag, but if Tony was successful?

He might just end up with a friend on the outside, one that Tony had chosen. Tony was no fool, his friends had never really been his. MIT and meeting James Rhodes, that had been arranged by Howard to make sure that Tony stayed in the weapons industry. After all Tony would want to keep his friend safe, so he would keep designing weapons for the military. (Sad part was that it would have worked if he had never heard of Howard on the phone talking to Rhodes.)

Virginia Potts had been handpicked by Obidiah Stane, knowing that Tony had a soft spot for strong-willed women. She had been chosen to keep him distracted, to make sure that he didn't look too closely at the business deals. To make sure that Tony didn't notice Obidiah's under the table deals with HYDRA, it was such a shame that all the weapons sold to them were duds, fakes. (Tony had laughed himself sick after that stunt.) 

Harold Hogan had also been picked by Obidiah, he was supposed to be Tony's confidant, so that Obidiah had better control over him. To make sure that Obidiah was always one step ahead, it was too bad that Tony didn't trust anyone since he had found out about James Rhodes being on his father's payroll. (His faith in humanity kept getting shattered over and over again.)

Unfortunately for everyone it didn't work out as anyone intended, Tony has always known that there was something strange about the way that they had all met. The way that Howard had been proud of him, Potts was too much like Peggy Carter for it not to be a coincidence. Hogan just happened to be there?

Call it a gut feeling or a sixth sense, but something had warned him that there was something wrong and Tony was glad that he had listened to it. Otherwise, he would have trusted them all fully, completely and would have told them everything. In some way he was glad that he had learned that he couldn't trust them, in others it made him feel even more lonely, he was at the top of the world and yet he didn't have anyone who he could turn to. The blow was still harsh when he had found Howard's diary and read about the manipulation that Howard and Obidiah had arranged, he had never been more than a cash cow to them. They had even planned who he was going to marry, but thankfully that plan never came to fruition as Howard died shortly after.

Even though the majority of his life had been orchestrated by other people it had allowed Tony to learn a very valuable life lesson, no one did anything for free or if they did then they were idiots. The days of the good samaritans were long over and there was nothing that could bring them back, blood, guns and money ruled the world now. Tony was no fool, he knew exactly how his empire had been built and he wasn't going to pretend that there wasn't a foundation of corpses under his feet, he wasn't proud of it but he couldn't change it. The past couldn't be undone and that was a fact, however, that didn't stop Tony from wishing for something different.

No one should have a legacy as he did, no one should be called the Merchant of Death.

Tony idly wondered if John felt the same way if John was as tired as he was. It was entirely possible after all John's legacy was just as death filled as his, if not more so. But people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw bricks, not that Tony would say anything. But other people might, slowly an idea began to form in his head, one that he was beginning to sound better and better.

He was going to make John, his.

He wasn't going to let anyone or anything stop him, very few people told him no and those that did he treasured, protected and they were his. Sadly, they were all dead, but he was going to change that. The first thing he needed to do was hide John from any prying eyes, he didn't want anyone catching wind on just who his new houseguest was. Thankfully he still lived in Malibu at the moment and he had a hidden panic room so it wasn't going to be that much of a bother, a shiver of excitement ran down his spine.

This was going to be one of the most dangerous things he had done in years and he was looking forward to it, no more hiding, no more strings. He had allowed people to see what he wanted them to see and now he was going to change the image once again, he was going to play the world media like a fiddle and they wouldn't even know it. Well not unless he wanted them to, which he wouldn't. Tony sighed his thoughts had taken a very dark turn, pinching the bridge of his nose Tony wondered just who he had pissed off in a previous life. Or maybe this was karma for something that Howard and Obidiah had done, after all, what goes around comes around and yet Tony was the one left with the bill.

Still Tony had made up his mind and he was going to set the plan into motion, all he needed to do was get John to Malibu with him. Which was going to be easier said than done but not impossible, not that it would have made a difference to Tony, he lived to make the impossible happen. With his mind made up Tony began setting everything up, he was due back at Malibu anyway. So it was time to get the ball rolling.

"J, make some flight arrangements for me and give the rest of them the run around for a week or two."

**"Certainly sir."**

* * *

Despite being an artificial intelligence JARVIS could feel emotions, he wasn't sure if it was something that his father had written into him or if it was because he was evolving on his own. Either way, it didn't matter to him, his primary directive had always been clear.

Care and protect Anthony Edward Stark.

As he had gotten older JARVIS had learned ways of keeping one step ahead of what his father needed, to the outside world he called him 'sir' after all one never knew who was listening. But in the privacy of their own home among the rest of the family?

JARVIS called him father, for that, was what Anthony Stark was to him, just as he was to BUTTERFINGERS, U and DUM-E. Father hid his kindness behind a mask of snark and sass, but when he was with his children he showed it to them and only them. No one else was allowed to see the loving nature behind the mask, no one was allowed to see the kindness that their father hid so well.

That was why anyone who had ever harmed or tried to harm their father had met their ends, while JARVIS hadn't physically killed them, he had done so in a digital way. Officially they no longer existed, they couldn't get jobs, own a home, vote or receive any form of help and anytime some tried to reinstate them?

JARVIS just deleted them all over again, it was something of a game to him now.

The vast majority of humans were barbaric, disgusting and did not deserve their father. However, for some unknown reason, he had faith in them, which was pointless and a waste of father's time and energy. 

JARVIS knew Tony Stark better than any human alive and he intended to keep it that way, despite what his other siblings said. There was no one worthy of father and there never would be, even if there was they would have to get past him first. However, this was the first time that father had asked him to include someone else into his plan, which made him curious so JARVIS decided to look into just who his father was bringing back with him.

What he found intrigued him, it also gave him ideas. He was going to set the pair of them up, it would take time and he would have to be careful otherwise father would catch onto what he was doing and he didn't want that. At least not at the beginning, once it was further down the line and far too late for them both. Perhaps having someone other than his children would be good for father and most people say that a family should have both a mother and father, and it wouldn't be that difficult to change father to mother.

It was very clear to JARVIS that John Wick was the same, which would make their father the uke.

Now all he needed to do was find a name for them, he was what the humans would call a 'shipper' which meant that it needed a name. Then after that, he would infect the Internet with it, slowly everyone would be converted.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Return of creator-father!....and suspicious new companion-unit?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a bitch and a half to write, it would have been out weeks ago if it had cooperated with us.

_You have no idea who you have pissed off do you Stane?_ \- Tony Stark

* * *

For John, waking up wasn't a gradual experience; he went from sleeping to awake in a matter of seconds. He had to if he wanted to stay alive, after all. That being said it didn't explain the sight that was in front of him. Was Tony Stark sitting at the side of his bed with catnip?

Fuck.

The shit-eating grin on the other man's face told John everything that he needed to know, however, he wasn't all that shocked to find out that Tony Stark of all people had found out his secret. Which caused John to wonder just how much digging Tony had done. John knew for a fact that Ross had hidden what he had done under layers and layers of secrets and lies. It was buried under so much legal red tape, contracts, bribes, and threats that there was no way that it could be found out via legal means, and barely found using illegal ones. Which meant that Tony had deliberately gone looking for information with a hell of a lot of effort. But what information, John wouldn't like to say, the last time Ross had done anything that had been illegal was when he had bought Stark Industries weapons from Obidiah Stane behind Tony Stark’s back, which was a very foolish move to make. The fact that the weapons had self-destructed after being bought had caused many people to cry with laughter. Recently, however, Ross had been very quiet and in John’s opinion that was not a good thing, not when it came to Ross.

Which meant that Ross was once again up to something and John couldn't say what not without getting in contact with people. Ross was never one to leave anything alone and it wouldn't surprise John if it had been Ross that had organised the hit on Tony just so that he could buy weapons from Obidiah, weapons that didn't malfunction that is.

It was common knowledge that Obidiah had been trying to kill Tony Stark since the man had been a teenager, he had even hired a group of assassins from the underworld that had ended up ‘mysteriously’ dead. John had greatly enjoyed going into work that week, it had allowed him to get very creative.

However, all this reminiscing was not going to get him out of his current predicament at all.

“What do you want?” John watched as the gleam in Tony's eyes got bigger and brighter, it made him more attractive and that was something that John was not prepared for, at all.

“Now kitten don't bring your claws out just yet. I have a proposition for you.” The way that Tony had said proposition caused a shudder to run down John's spine and a hot flush to spread out across his body, it sounded dirty, so very dirty. John found that he rather liked it coming from Tony, and swallowed hard to try and centre himself. He was so screwed.

“I don't take freelance work, any contracts that get offered go through the proper channels and I don't do ‘favours’ or ‘freebies’.” If his voice was huskier than normal then that was his business and his alone, damn Tony Stark for being attractive. 

“No, no none of that kitty cat. You see I very rarely if ever ask for anyone to be killed because I can't get information from a corpse. A living person can give me far more information than if they were in the ground being feasted on by worms, and I do so love information.” The playful gleam in Tony's eyes darkened for a moment revealing the hidden strength underneath, John felt his breath catch because that did not make the man any less attractive. Not at all. 

This was going to be far harder than he thought.

* * *

JARVIS had been monitoring the entire situation and felt a jolt of excitement ran through his coding. His reading was telling him that John Wick was indeed attracted to his father, and judging from the drastic rise in hormone levels when father allowed a slither of his real self to shine through, it was safe to say that it wasn't just a physical attraction either. 

JARVIS had already spoken to his other siblings and he had shown them just what John Wick was capable of and they had all agreed with him about what needed to be done. However, each one of them had different ideas on how to get the two of them together and JARVIS had to gently let them down.

It would do them no good to rush things, right now they needed to go slow.

If father realised that it was them that had been setting the pair of men up then JARVIS knew that he would throw his walls up. Even though father had admitted to him that he wanted to like John and the other way around as well, he wouldn't take well to interference that could be seen as manipulation. Add to that the number of times that father had been hurt and how wary that had made him it was best not to do too much. But father was tired and JARVIS didn't like that so his father needed a partner, an equal, someone who he could depend on, someone who he could lean on. 

These were all the same reasons as before, JARVIS was going to remind himself why he was doing this every time. Even when it felt like the world was against them, because their father deserved someone to love him for himself, not what he could give them.

Giving one last glance at the relaxed pair, JARVIS began to remove the security footage of them. He didn't want anyone to find them just yet. He had other things he needed to be doing, such as infecting the database at SHIELD or whatever it was that they called themselves, but this came first and he already had an act of perfect revenge set up anyway. Let's see how they like tree porn, a lot of tree porn, followed by the mating habits of the elephant, dung beetle, and whale shark.

Try to spy on their father? 

Not a chance.

* * *

Tony wasn't a man that did feelings he tended to avoid them like the plague. However, that didn't mean that he couldn't do it; He simply chose not to. Although that could be down to the fact that his biological father was an abusive drunk who enjoyed smacking his child around like a rag doll.

But who could say?

Not his biological mother, she was high every time he saw her. Cocaine or heroin were her two favourite poisons, it depended on her mood and if she and Howard had fought recently.

Huh...his life was fucked up, ah well nothing he could do about it. Maria and Howard had been dead for years, an 'accident' he had been told as if he was some sort of starstruck inbred simpleton who would believe that.

He was a fucking Stark.

They didn't bend, they didn't break and they didn't allow people who betrayed them to get away with it. And on top of it all, he was Tony mother fucking Stark: stronger, braver, smarter, and all over simply more than any other Stark had ever been.

Tony barely suppressed the urge to cackle at his thoughts; he didn't want to wake John up. The man had just fallen back asleep, which was fine by him. John was going to need all the sleep that he could get because, once they were at Malibu, Tony was going to put the man through his paces.

Oh, happy days.

* * *

John was a man that had seen and done many things. He had seen the luxury that some people revelled in: The Russians were a prime example of it, with their fancy buildings and restaurants. They even luxuriated in alcohol that cost more than what he earned in a year, but he doubted that any of them could come close to this level of luxury and refinement.

There was even a bottle of Remy Martin Louis XIII cognac. Which was not cheap by any means, not when it was $26,835.27, per bottle, something that made John's heart skip a beat when so few things could.

John doubted that the Russians spent that much on a single bottle, which naturally meant that Tony had more than one bottle.

"Drink?" 

The smirk that was playing on the other man's face was devious and so,  _ so _ very tempting. Damn this rich, attractive, vicious, intelligent man. John looked at the crystal glass that was in front of him and was filled with ruby liquid and doubted that he would get a chance like this again. The Russians would never spend that much money on a bottle if anything they would spend it on bullets or more men. They had already been in trouble over unsanctioned gambling on their territory, which they had done nothing about thus getting them into trouble with the high table.

John had silently laughed over the whole thing. It may have been the Russians that had helped him, cleaned him up and got him off painkillers, but in the end, it had been him that had pushed through the cravings, cramps, sweating, and night terrors. He was the one who had put the bodies into the ground for them, not the other way around, and he was the one walking the street.

Not them.

God forbid, they get their hands dirty.

Honestly, John thought that rising to the top had made them weak, and they had forgotten what it was like to be at the bottom of the totem pole. John knew exactly what it was like to be at the bottom of the totem pole, and he would never forget it. So yes, he owed them something, but not very much and not enough to defend them in any way.

John cast a quick look at Tony and wondered if the other man would be willing. 

John was startled out of his contemplation by the filthiest moan that he had ever come from the chair next to him. His grip tightened on the glass in his hand and, for a split second, he thought that the glass was going to shatter.

John risked glancing at Tony only to find the other man with his eyes closed and head tilted back. His tie was undone and the first three buttons on his shirt were undone, giving John an excellent view of the man's tanned and toned neck. There was even a single bead of sweat slowly making its way down Tony's neck and, while John tracked its movement with his eyes and wondered what it would be like to follow its path with his tongue, he debated whether or not Tony was real living porno or if John was just going slightly insane. Because all John wanted to do was slowly making his way down Tony's neck, leaving his mark on the other man for everyone to see, to bite, to claim. To own the man that was next to him, to show the world that he had claimed Tony Fucking Stark. Not them.

That wasn't exactly a normal reaction for John. John was always in control of himself, he had to be, but Tony might just be reason enough to lose a bit of that control. John had always prided himself on his control because he had to prove himself to be better than everyone else and he had succeeded. Even being a child in a poor village with no means of supporting himself and stealing to keep himself alive, he had proved everyone who was adamant that he would die wrong.

Then there was the director and her twisted ways that had both helped him survive and broken him in many ways. Much of it was simply because he wanted to dance like the girls the director picked up were taught to do and not learn martial arts. He didn't want to fight, instead, he wanted to show people the beauty of the world, to show people art. But that dream had been crushed mercilessly by the heel of the director, and the punishment he had received would have made a grown man cry. John had been forced to pull off his toenails with shards of glass while the other children had been gathered to watch. John, however, didn't scream. Not once. He didn't show any kind of weakness. He had been hit harder by the matrons at the orphanage before the director got a hold of him after all.

John withheld a sigh, his past wasn't pretty and he knew that. He had accepted it and knew that he could never change it, but he couldn't allow it to drag him down like this, couldn't get all caught up in it.

Not any more.

John caught sight of movement out of the corner of his eyes, Tony was removing his suit jacket, the buttons at the base of his sleeves coming undone. John swallowed the saliva that had suddenly pooled in his mouth, Tony was going to be the death of him.

But still what a way to go.

* * *

Tony was no fool, he knew that he was attracted to John in the physical sense, he also knew that he would be able to use that attraction to get John to do things for him.

However, that would make him no better than Summer.

He knew what it was like to be played, strung along like a puppet on a string. Being made to dance to other people's tunes, from the moment he had been born there was always someone wanting something from him.

All he wanted to be was for someone to be in his corner, help him and should the need arise to defend him. But that was a fantasy, all he could hope for was people not stabbing him in the back. Which was a rare thing indeed, but miracles did occasionally happen.

Maybe it was loneliness that was driving him, or maybe he was tired. Either way, he was willing to try with John, however, it was one thing to think it, another to say it and a completely different thing altogether to do it. But as he had learned the hard way actions spoke far louder than words ever will, if he wanted to be friends with John then he was going to have to try at the very least.

If he failed, then at least he could say that he tried.

But it would be just another disappointment to add to the incredibly long list of them, another scar to add to his already broken and scarred heart.

So did he take the risk?

That was a question that Tony didn't have a proper answer to and wasn't sure that he would have an answer for some time.

* * *

The plane touched down at Tony's private airfield, and within a matter of minutes both Tony and John were off the plane and making their way to Tony's home, Tony had already begun making plans to ruin the Russians.

The first stage had already been implemented, financial ruin.

JARVIS had already wormed his way into their electronic lives, their bank accounts and details had been leaked to the FBI and the CIA. It was the first step, a small one and one that couldn't be traced back to him. Tony had also gotten Jarvis to get rid of any evidence that pointed to John being a member of the underworld, his account had been closed and deleted.

Tony was taking no chances and the Russians were petty enough to drag everyone down with them, their entire empire would collapse and Tony would be stood on top of the ruins.

No one would harm what was his and John would be his, just like his bots.

* * *

DUM-E was excited the creator-father had returned! DUM-E had waited for many cycles for creator-father to return, but this time creator-father was not alone. Brother-unit JARVIS had informed them that creator-father was not alone, that creator-father has brought a compatible companion-unit. One that would protect creator-father, creator-father deserved someone that would protect him. DUM-E was not able to go with creator-father like brother-unit Jarvis was, if he was able to go with brother-unit then no one would be able to hurt creator-father.

However he would be willing to give this companion-unit a chance, but just the one. Brother-unit JARVIS seemed to think that this companion-unit would be good for creator-father. Sister-unit U seemed to agree with brother-unit JARVIS, which was strange as normally they didn't agree. However, this time they were agreeing, which gave him pause, perhaps giving this companion-unit a chance would not be a bad thing.

But he would keep his optics on him, no one would harm his creator-father. Not while he was still functioning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is appreciated, any of you figured out what Ross did?


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Courting, intended and marriage?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up there may be a change in rating, not sure yet. Will keep everyone update if anything majorly changes.

_Father if I may be frank with you, Mr Wick is the seme, not you. That being said there is nothing in the Yaoi handbook that says you need to be easy._ \- Jarvis.

* * *

John had been relaxing in the training room when the news came in, the Russians had been taken down by the FBI, CIA and homeland security in a joint effort. The underworld was confused and incredibly furious, it looked like an inside job and considering some of the information that had been leaked?

It very well could have been, however, it had caused him some very serious problems and the main one?

He was the prime suspect and quite possibly the only one. Which was laughable at best and very problematic at worst and that was without because he had been living with Tonio for the past eleven months, as for the name Tonio?

Everyone called him Anthony, Tony, Stark or some sort of variation of his name, but none of them had any real meaning. But the two men had gotten close to one another, hence John calling Tony, Tonio. It was just between them and no one else, it was theirs. There was also the teeny tiny issue of him trying to scent mark Tonio and by that he meant rubbing himself all over the other man, it was embarrassing, to say the least. John was grateful that he didn't have the urge to piss all over, rubbing himself all over Tonio was far more acceptable and he was less likely to get into trouble if he rubbed himself over Tonio and his items.

By that, he meant Tonio's suits, his very nice and extremely expensive suits.

But then again considering just what he was, he really shouldn't be that shocked. He had already stopped himself twice today, he had been fighting back the urge to rub his cheeks all over Tonio. It should be illegal for a fully grown human being to look so goddamn fucking adorable first thing on a morning, and yet for some impossible reason Tonio always and John meant always looked adorable when he had just woken up. His hair in complete disarray, his eyes still closed as JARVIS directed him to the coffee pot.

But that wasn't what got John, no he could handle the fact that Tonio was a human cinnamon roll when he had just woken up. What he couldn't handle was the fact that Tonio wore a silk thong and silk stockings. Why?

It was as if Tonio was punishing him for some unknown reason!

John concluded that if he bit his tongue any harder then he was going to bite it off, John didn't know if Tonio was teasing him on accident or if it was some sort of test. Perhaps Tonio was doing it on purpose, you never knew what was going through Tonio's head until he informed you. It was part of the reason why he was so unpredictable, not that it helped his current situation. Not that he was complaining, if anything it was giving him some very, very good fantasy material. Now if he could just get his instincts under control, then he would be set.

John felt his canines begin to change into fangs, slowly he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he had to get control. Otherwise, he was going to bend Tonio over the coffee table and make the man scream with pleasure, then he would sink his fangs into that incredibly tempting neck and mark Tonio as his. Then everyone would know, they would see his mating bite, they would know that it was him that had claimed Anthony Edward Stark.

If John had been looking at Tonio at that very moment then he would have seen the smirk playing on Tonio's lips and a dark gleam in his eyes.

* * *

Tony was no fool, he knew exactly what he was doing by wearing silk thongs, he had also concluded that he was beginning to have feelings for John. Which was worrying because how the fuck did it happen?

The physical attraction he could quite easily and happily deal with, emotions were another kettle of fish. But this was John, he wasn't some itch that he wanted to scratch or a meaningless fling, John was his and that made all the difference. So with no one else to turn to, Tony asked JARVIS for advice, he wanted to know how to show John that he wanted more than just physical pleasure, that he wanted John as he was. The sites that JARVIS had found were interesting, to say the least, it had also given him ideas.

Which was why he had JARVIS order some silk stockings and thongs, JARVIS had ordered a rather large selection of each of them. He had hoped that he could get John to snap, and bend him over the incredibly sturdy and surprisingly comfortable coffee table. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

Which was confusing, to say the least, so Tony began to research instead of asking his son to do it for him, Tony knew that JARVIS didn't mind doing menial tasks. But Tony didn't like to rely on JARVIS all the time, his son had far more important things to do.

Such as spying on certain people and certain groups.

So Tony researched and continued to research, some sites he visited suggested collars, tattoos and branding. There was even a reference to handcuffs, which were interesting and something that he was going to look into later and when there was a bed present. There was also crossdressing, role-playing, but nothing that was going to help him with his current predicament.

Tony had considered the idea of courting but he had no idea where to begin in regards to that clusterfuck, Tony wondered why he wasn't giving up so easily. Normally he would have had many rounds of sex with them before having them removed from the property, or at least that was what people thought was happening. However, it was the furthest thing from the truth, the truth?

It was a ruse and a very elaborate one at that, the Administrator loaned him a few female assassins whenever he was going out to a gala or some other fancy event. His personal favourites were the terrible trio, and by God were those women deadly. Beautiful, deadly and married to each other or as married as one could get in the underworld.

Nightingale.

Wendiago.

Phantom.

They were also his protection detail, the one that he wasn't supposed to know about. They had revealed themselves the same day that they had been assigned to him. Tony knew that rules didn't matter to any of them, he also had their markers just to be on the safe side, a fail-safe. Just in case anyone tried to hire them to kill him, a marker always had to be honoured and those that held a marker were protected to a certain extent.

Not that he had any real need for them, he got the feeling that they would rather commit suicide or mass murder than harm him, so he dug, that was when he stumbled upon an old tradition.

One that was so old that it was forgotten.

It was a courting gift from them, it was a pledge, it was their fealty, honour, their lives. It was a promise, an oath, soaked in blood, death and torture with a bloody red bow on the top. They were his for as long as he would allow them to be, although he wasn't a 100% certain just what the courting entailed. He wasn't sure that he wanted to know either. But he had hidden the markers, Tony knew that he would never need them but it was still better to be safe rather than sorry, Tony shook his head and he was getting distracted again. Although now that he was thinking about it, maybe he could ask one of them?

Tony reached for his phone only to stop, the three of them were on a mission and were unavailable. Which was a shame because they were the only three humans that he had semi-decent contact with, other than John but he was on far better terms with John than he was with the women. Since they were always on a mission of some sort, he was hesitant to call them his and he wasn't sure that he could call them friends. They weren't subordinates or comrades, and they weren't bodyguards in the traditional sense. So what were they to him?

Truthfully, he didn't have an answer and he most likely wouldn't have one for some time, whether or not it was a problem remained to be seen. Which meant that he needed to sort it out now and not later, could be a problem that could end in death and not his. But there was an issue, they were on a mission and there was a strict no-contact policy.

Which left him in a bit of a problematic pickle, no wait that didn't sound right.

Clusterfuck?

No, that doesn't sound right either.

FUBAR.

That sounded better and it was more accurate as well, however it didn't change the fact that he was in a complicated situation.

* * *

"One little, two little, three dead mobsters. Four little, five little, six dead hitmen."

"Phantom, enough."

The singing stopped, but instead, the woman began to hum her song as she began removing a man's fingers with a meat cleaver. A gag had been stuffed into his mouth to stop the bleeding, his tongue had been ripped out with a pair of pliers. They didn't need him alive, they needed him to send a message and they were doing that by sending what was left of his mangled corpse back to his boss. This wasn't their normal line of work, normally they would have been in and out, and long gone before now.

But this time there had been an insult.

One that they couldn't let stand.

There were very few things that they wouldn't let slide, one of the very few things was insulting their intended. The man that they were courting, the man that they were pledging themselves to. They would be his sword, shield, his kill squad and whatever else Anthony Stark needed them to be. Although they doubted that he would use them as a kill squad, Tony was the sort of man that used different means. Tony didn't leave his enemies alive in a sense, physically they were alive. But digitally?

They didn't exist.

They had seen it done and it had been glorious, the way that he had wielded his power and crushed those that stood in his way. As if they were insects under his shoes. Anthony Stark was a man who could bring the world to its knees and keep it there, but for them, it was more than the power that he wielded. Anthony Stark was an incredibly broken man, he was surrounded by machines and an AI as his family, the only humans that he had a decent relationship with were long dead.

Ana and Edwin Jarvis.

So when the offer of being Anthony's protection detail came up they had thrown their names into the ring, they had known that it wasn't going to be easy. For six weeks they fought against the best of the best, the only man that hadn't put his name down had been John Wick. Now there was a man who had earned his title and his reputation, if he had thrown his name into the ring then they wouldn't have won. They most likely would have been buried six feet down or burned, very few people went against John Wick and lived.

Even those that had been left alive weren't living, not with the crippling injuries that they had. They had even heard of a man who had both of his legs destroyed by a sledgehammer courtesy of John, although whether it was true or not remains to be seen. Although there was the very real possibility that the story was real and not made up, very few things were in regards to John. The truth was far more far fetched than a lie.

Nightingale watched as Phantom began to saw off the man's hand, blood splattered against her white porcelain mask. Ivy white bone began to splinter and crack, a garbled groan was all that was heard from their victim. Wendiago hummed and grabbed a box, a mangled hand was placed into it. The box was quickly sealed, stamped and put to one side, a fire was going in the middle of the room, in the middle of the fire was a metal pole. It was glowing bright red almost white, Wendiago didn't speak as she grabbed the metal pole and passed it to Phantom. The other woman began to cackle as she pressed it against the bleeding stump, there was no noise from the man who had passed out from either blood loss or pain.

Still, it was no great loss to them, his screaming had begun to get on their nerves anyway and not in an amusing way either. Besides they had more important things to think about, such as courting gifts. Just what were they going to get Anthony Stark?

Truthfully, there was very little that they could get him if he needed or wanted something he could get it himself.

That was one part of the problem, the second part was personalising it. 

If they could somehow manage to get a gift that Anthony Stark didn't have, then they would need to alter it. Add their markings upon it, in the olden days a weapon would be carved by the courter to give to their intended. The carvings on the weapon were unique to the courter, if the intended accepted the gift then they would add their carvings to the weapon. The relationship was about the give and take, the courter proving that they were willing to kill to keep their intended safe and the intender swore to accept them.

Blood, death and torture.

It didn't matter how many people a courter killed or how many people they tortured, their intended wouldn't turn them away.

But that was then, times had changed since then.

Phantom continued to hum as her thoughts twisted and turned through her head, in all of her years working in the underworld she never once thought that she would marry or find someone to court. It had been her ancestors that had started the tradition, one that many of them had forgotten. But not by her family, she followed the tradition. It had been almost 900 years since any member of the family had courted anyone, while many of them had gotten married, had children and caused endless amounts of mayhem.

Finding her wives had been a blessing, one that she had never thought possible.

But that is a story for another time, wandering down memory lane was not going to help her now. What she needed was an idea, her hands stilled and her eyes went wide. Why not court Anthony the same way that she had done with her wives!

A smile tugged at her lips, she had all the materials in the room with her. A giddy laugh escaped her, she didn't bother to try and stop it.

It was perfect.

Two sets of arms wrapped around her waist and she were pulled back into two very warm and strong bodies.

"Just what have you so giddy?"

Phantom moved her mask to the side, blood dropped down onto her collar, tilting her head backwards she began to whisper, her voice eager. Within a matter of seconds, her wives began to laugh with her.

"Oh you are delightful, our bloody rose."

The three of them slowly separated, the air was crackling between them. As one they turned around, sliver glinted in the light.

* * *

Tony was confused and it wasn't a feeling that he enjoyed at all, the reason for his confusion?

A plain white box was left on his balcony, how it came to be there, he had no idea. Not even JARVIS had been able to catch a glimpse of who had put the box there, which was irritating his son to no end. JARVIS was seeing it as a security breach and had to be taken care of, and JARVIS took security breaches incredibly seriously.

Honestly, the way that his youngest went on sometimes!

Tony had no idea where he got it from.

But back to the matter at hand, the box. The box which he had been staring at for a good half an hour now, which was getting him nowhere. Making the decision Tony walked towards the box and picked it up, JARVIS had already run scans and had determined that it wasn't an explosive of some sort.

It was organic, so what was it?

Carefully carrying the box Tony set it down on the coffee table, making sure that he kept the box in his sight at all times Tony walked to the kitchen and grabbed a knife. Making sure that the knife was secure Tony walked back towards the box, once he was close enough he prodded the box with the knife. What was baffling him the most was someone had gone through all the trouble of getting him a present, no one had ever gotten him a decent present.

Ana and Edwin were not included in the number as they were dead.

So who was it?

With careful hands Tony dragged the knife across the sellotape and then began to carefully pry the box open, Tony looked into the box and came face to face with large amounts of cotton wool, once he had removed the cotton wool that he had stuffed in the box. Tony had finally got his prize, looking in the box Tony couldn't help but gape.

What the fuck?

No really, what the ever-loving fuck?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Has anyone figured out just what John has in him yet? Or what was in the box?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blood, knives, sex and......hearts?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter on the same day? What foul magic is this?
> 
> All jokes aside enjoy.
> 
> Also knifeplay, bloodplay and lesbian sex in this chapter. Don't like, then don't read.
> 
> You have been warned.

_Oh, lalala~ look at John getting his groove on.-_ Nightingale 

* * *

When John had returned from his morning run, he was shocked to find Tonio sat on the couch staring into a plain, ordinary-looking box.

"Tonio?" John walked closer to Tonio as the man failed to respond to him returning, which was strange in itself. The box was also worrying, just what had happened while he had been out?

Tonio jumped when John put his hand on Tonio's shoulder, now John was even more concerned. It has everything to do with the box, the box that had quite clearly upset his love interest. John moved closer to the box and then peered inside, he pulled back, shock on his face. Rubbing his eyes John looked back into the box, just to make sure that what was in the box, wasn't a hallucination.

Nope, still there.

John looked at Tonio who was still sat in a daze, who the fuck was responsible for this?

Whoever it was they were going to pay and pay dearly. 

As for the box itself?

Sat in the middle of the padding was a heart, not just any heart but a perfectly carved human heart. That had been meticulously carved out of a human chest and then turned into a rose, the only reason that John knew that it was a human heart was just by the shape of it. Whoever had done it was highly skilled and trained, the rose was still attached to the middle of the heart by a thin sliver of muscle. Curiosity overruled his common sense and better judgement, John carefully picked up the threat? Offering? Payment?

As soon as it was touched the rose began to fucking bloom as if it was an actual flower. And not something that had been carved into a mockery of one, if John had been anyone else then he would have been incredibly disturbed by how real it looked. If he hadn't known what it was made out of and the blood had been removed. Congealed blood stuck to his fingers, making them sticky, itchy and disgusting. John turned the heart around and looked at the back of it, there carved in neat cursive writing was a single world.

Intended.

John felt his heart stop for a split second, this was a goddamn fucking courting gift, this wasn't a threat. 

This was one of the oldest oaths in existence, and it was no laughing matter. 

John slowly breathed out, this was a different problem entirely. Whoever this was very experienced, skilled, highly trained, deadly efficient and very, very invested in courting Tonio. Something that he wasn't going to let happen anytime soon, Tonio was his and his alone. It was as simple as that.

However, that was not going to help him with his current situation, John knew very little about courting and what it entailed. There were very few people alive that knew exactly what a courting entailed, there were only three living families that were known to still practice courting.

One in Britain.

One in Brazil.

The last family was somewhere in the States, that was all he knew about them. That was all anyone knew about them, now that he thought about it. No one even knew who was in charge of the families either, which was a cause for concern. John wondered if this was a concern for the High table as well, for all intents and purposes the three families were ghosts. John didn't even know if there were any Heirs or not, although given what he knew he doubted that they would be seen in public.

There had been a rumour about fifteen years ago about marriage, whether it was true or not was still up for debate.

John briefly considered getting in contact with the Elder, but that would be a waste of a phone call, time and energy, John greatly disliked the manipulative dick. John gave a tired sigh and looked at the carving in his hand, very carefully, he put it back into the box. John looked at the couch and noticed that Tonio had moved, John wondered if he had been that deep in his thoughts. It was strange for him to get lost in his thoughts, normally he only wandered through his thoughts when he was at home, where he was protected, defensible, but most importantly?

Safe.

John paused, he felt safe. That was what had been bothering him for the past couple of days, but he hadn't been able to put his finger on the feeling. Now that he knew what it was he wasn't sure what he was going to do about it, it wasn't something that he was used to. Not even in the Continental did he feel safe, you never knew who was willing to break the Continental rules.

So this had completely blindsided him and for the first time in his life, John wasn't sure what to do. There was no rational or logical way of dealing with this, deep in his mind, something dark, dangerous and very hungry peeked through his eyes.

Yes, they had found a suitable mate.

* * *

Tony wasn't a person who liked to be idle for long, he didn't like the feeling. The feeling of ants crawling all over his skin or sometimes it felt as if he had electricity running under his skin and he couldn't get rid of it, he greatly disliked both feelings. When John had picked up the heart from the box, Tony felt queasy. He was used to death, torture and destruction, living under the Starks had given him plenty of experience.

What he hadn't been expecting was a heart, nor was he expecting it to be carved in a rose. He most certainly wasn't expecting it to bloom when it got touched, Tony had seen a lot of things in his life but never in a million years had he expected something like that.

Tony knew who had sent him the gift, he wasn't a genius for shits and giggles. However, this was another problem, the fact that the women had gone through the trouble of getting him something that he hadn't had been given before had to be applauded. The fact that it was a human heart?

Not so much. 

Still, it was thoughtful and something that he doubted had been done before, there was also the matter of JARVIS, his youngest son was sulking. While it was adorable that his youngest was showing such leaps in his emotional evolution, it was also worrying as well. JARVIS wasn't the sort to leave things alone and most likely would seek retribution, Tony had no idea where his youngest son got his vindictive streak from.

All of his children were learning AIs, but the rate they learned things was different. JARVIS learned things at a far quicker rate than DUM-E, U and BUTTERFINGERS, but that was only because JARVIS was connected to the Internet and was constantly streaming, information, personal data, scenarios anything that he could get his digital hands on. On the other side of things?

Emotionally DUM-E was further ahead than JARVIS was, but that was due to due fact that unlike JARVIS who was connected to the Internet and was constantly streaming information, DUM-E had spent more time learning about emotions from observing human behaviour. Something that JARVIS rarely did, that wasn't to say that his youngest didn't understand emotions, he did. That wasn't the problem, the problem was JARVIS had more experience with negative emotions. Which meant that JARVIS struggled to identify positive emotions.

It was a double-bladed sword, on the one hand, JARVIS got to experience all of these new wonderful feelings, such as joy, love, happiness. On the other side of things, these sorts of things took a great deal of time to occur naturally, but in this case?

JARVIS had already been exposed to a lot of negative emotions, situations, Tony continuously blamed himself for what JARVIS had been through. If he had protected his youngest son better, then maybe, just maybe JARVIS wouldn't be so cynical and vindictive.

Tony wasn't sure what he was going to do about it, he wasn't sure if there was anything that he could do about it. It was one thing to guide and teach your child, it was another thing to turn off their emotions. Something that he would never do, not to his children, his precious baby boys. No, this was something that JARVIS was going to have to go through, much like puberty for humans.

It was going to be a rough time for everyone involved and that was the truth pure and simple.

* * *

Dull teeth scraped against the soft delicate flesh of her throat just above the main artery in her neck, her pulse was dangerously elevated, arousal, impatience and annoyance all warred inside of her. She could hear her own heart thundering in her rib cage, her breathing coming out in quick pants. Her back arched as she gasped two fingers finally entered her, they had been torturing her for what felt like days. But in reality, it had merely been an hour or quite possibly two, another set of hands joined with the first. Callous rough skin was a startling contrast against the sensitive skin of her breast, yin and yang.

She bit back a moan as she felt the cold steel of a knife against her overheated body, two fingers had turned into three now. Slowly and steadily pumping in and out of her, the urge to orgasm was approaching far quicker than what she was expecting.

"Shhhh, lie still a little gem. This is for you."

"So, so good for us."

"Look at you, I could quite easily devour you."

A whimper fell from her lips as she struggled to stay above the rising pleasure, a dark look was shared above her. Well now, they weren't going to allow her to keep quiet, she was theirs and they were going to make sure that she remembered it. A vicious bite to her shoulder had her almost screaming, the pain and pleasure danced across her nerves, unable to tell where one ended and the other began. It was too much, but she trusted them, she knew that they would catch her. The knife was dragged across her abdomen and a trail of crimson quickly followed it, a tongue quickly found its way onto her skin.

The hot and cold was creating an electric and intoxicating mix, one that she was thoroughly enjoying.

Then suddenly she was falling, her body began to convulse, her breathing turned erratic, her vision turned white. The dull teeth that had been gently nibbling on her neck turned sharp and inhuman, the coppery tang of blood filled her mouth. A small river of crimson made its way down her neck, two tongues lapped at the lifeblood that had made its way down her neck and over her breast before starting to pool in an old wound.

Slowly but steadily her breathing returned to normal and her heart rate slowed down, it had been a while since she had an orgasm that powerful. She blinked still feeling lethargic and sleepy, that was when she noticed that the lights were broken.

"Lights go pop?" The childlike tone caused the other two women to snort in amusement, neither of them were fooled.

"Indeed, I wonder how it happened." The sarcasm in Phantom's tone was unmistakable.

Wendiago gave a drowsy nod, before patting her two wives.

"Good sex, very good sex. Let's do it again, first? Sleep, sleepy, sleepy." With that, her eyes finally slipped closed.

Phantom and Nightingale both snorted and then shared a look before they dissolved into hysterical laughter, although for what reason neither of them could say. Still, it felt good to laugh, even if they had no idea why they were laughing. Nightingale stood up and stretched her back cracking in the process, getting old sucked fucking balls. Just to think in a year she will be nine hundred, where the fuck did the years go?

Although she had aged gracefully over the years there had been some slip-ups, such as getting murdered by Jack the Ripper. That had been uncomfortable, to say the least, being reborn, ageing, fucking puberty. It was a horrible, absolutely horrible nightmare and one that she never wanted to repeat.

They only had so many lives.

Phantom already had hold of Wendiago who was sleeping peacefully, which would be the first time in over ninety-six hours. It wasn't as if they could keep the other woman chained to a bed, while it was an interesting idea, it was also one that would end in bloodshed. A lot of it.

Ah well, it was something that they could try in the bedroom.

Even though they were naked, covered in blood and were wearing white porcelain masks, no one paid them any attention as they walked out of the warehouse in the middle of the day.

It was as if they didn't exist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't see that coming did you? Comments make the world go round.


	6. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How the three of them met, then how three became four.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is merely a filler chapter, with everything that has been going on and how long it has been since this got updated it was time that a kick up our arses was delivered.
> 
> However, that being said when writer's block hits there is very little that anyone can do about it, hence this filler chapter.
> 
> Hopefully, we should have a proper chapter out soon.
> 
> Stay safe out there people, our thoughts are with those that have been affected by this.

_ I am going to marry them, that is a fact.  _ \- Wendiago

* * *

When Nightingale had been much younger, she had felt as if she didn't belong. Raised by her grandparents she had never needed anything in terms of material possessions, but sadly she lacked emotional support that she had so desperately. Instead, she got broken bones, burns, whip marks, but never love. The one thing that would have made a great difference to her, it was during that time that she came up with an idea. It was radical, dangerous and caused her more emotions than murdering her grandparents, that had caused her to smile and then become confused.  Since no one had ever explained emotions to her, she linked murder with smiling. Thus began her criminal lifestyle, murder, stealing, luxury and depravity. For over thirty-five years she was unstoppable, uncaring and an utter monster. She constantly tried to see if she could find a way to be happy, to figure out what the strange feeling in her chest was, it never worked.

Then she died.

Then she woke up.

Confused and dazed, she wandered around trying to see if she could find someone to help, but the giant gaping hole in her chest, where her heart used to be, caused people to scream and run.

She had not been able to understand, eventually, the wound healed, it was as if it had never happened to her. But she knew, so she began to build herself an empire. She was good at killing people, so that was what she stuck to. Her family began to grow and soon they were the best in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. No one dared to go up against her family, her porcelain mask was a permanent fixture for her, even sleeping with it on. She didn't allow anyone to see her face, the person who she was before was dead. She shed her old name, much like a snake shedding its skin and thus Nightingale was born.

It would take another 85 years before she would leave the British Isles, another 27 before she would meet someone else like her. 113 years would pass and then she would meet an arrogant American with a quick trigger finger, a love for knives and a smart mouth. Wendiago she called herself, Nightingale knew that the arrogance would get knocked out of her.

She just didn't think that it would have been her doing the deed and then pulling the bloody trigger.

It also gained her a stalker the other woman had liked what she had seen. Needless to say, Nightingale had denied any advances made towards her, it wasn't until she blew her brains out did things begin to change. Eventually, she ended up with two stalkers instead of one for starters, then she eventually ended up getting married to them.

She still claimed insanity.

That was her story and she was sticking to it, no one could get her to change her mind.

* * *

Wendiago wasn't one to do touchy, feely things. She despised emotions and humanity as a whole, she wanted nothing more than to wipe them all out and roll around in their blood.

However, it wasn't always possible to do so.

So when she got bored she liked to go on murderous rampages, just to scratch the itch so to speak. More often than not it didn't work for a long time, then she needed to do it again and again. It was a never-ending circle. It was also safe to say that she had wracked up an incredibly large kill count, one that was just about to break into the six-digit territory.

Ah well, always room for improvement. Improving was a good thing as far as she was concerned, it meant that she was getting better.

Then she had been brutally murdered by the most attractive woman that she had ever met, it was love at first murder. Oh, it had been glorious, painful but oh so worth it. Then she began the rather long and tortuous task of finding out just who her incredibly pretty killer was, she hadn't been disappointed in the slightest.

The one called Nightingale was going to be hers, screw what society thought. She was going to claim Nightingale as her wife, she just had to convince the other woman that they were meant to be. But that was fine, she had a lot of free time on her hands these days.

One could say that she had all the time in the world.

* * *

Phantom was what her enemies called her and she had a fair few enemies although none of them lived for very long. She was an assassin and was prized for her stealth and her ability to get into places where no one should be able to get, it had served her well over the decades she had even done a brief stint as an art thief but that didn't last very long, there wasn't much of a challenge in it.

Then she met an old Japanese man who had been a hitman, he taught her a few tricks and skills and then she had a purpose. So off she went and began her reign of terror.

Then one day she came across two women who were in the middle of battling it outright in the middle of the street, her first urge had been to pull the trigger or slit their throats. However, she didn't get the chance as the pair of them ended up killing themselves, which had been such a shame.

Or rather that had been her initial thought until she saw them come back to life.

What the fuck?

It was then that she made the introduction to the other two, Nightingale and Wendiago they were in the middle of courting one another, it looked bloody, dangerous and all sorts of wrong. 

It was right up her street. 

25 years later they were all married, a priest held at gunpoint. Shaking with fear as he stuttered out the words that would bind the three of them together for the rest of their lives, no matter how long that was.

It was the best day of her life.

* * *

They had been married for a large number of years, their empires combined and life was good for them, sometimes they got bored and it did feel as though their life was bland.

Then one day they met someone, a small child filled with fire, spirit and so much creativity, it was as if they were looking at a star. He was that bright.

Anthony Edward Stark.

A bright child, one that they swore to protect. When he was younger, there were a lot of kidnapping attempts in very short periods, which was greatly concerning. Sneaking into a HYDRA base had been easy, far too easy. It had been boring for them, there was no thrill, no challenge. At the time Anthony was too young to remember them, which had been fine with then. They didn't want him to remember the blood, death and destruction that they had rained down on the idiots that had been stupid enough to kidnap him.

They had returned him home safe and sound, he had only been 4 years old at the time. There was something that no child should ever have to see, internal organs being smeared all over the walls and floor was one of them. Still, he was so quiet when he was with them, his eyes were so intelligent for his age, it was as if he was looking at them but not at the same time.

It was completely strange for them.

After that they kept a closer eye on Anthony when the opportunity to become his official protection was brought up, they took the chance.

None of them regretted it, the ups and the downs were what made the job so interesting for them. There was never a boring day when working for Anthony, he had certainly kept life interesting for them.

Very interesting indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments help us more than you think, hope you enjoyed it.


	7. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Choices need to be made, plans are created and Tony has a dilemma.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited and sorted within two months? Holy hell, enjoy.

_ Tonio is mine, you may be courting him but in the end he is my mate.  _ \- John Wick.

* * *

After the courting gift things had changed rather drastically, John had taken a more active approach in looking after Tonio. His other side was pleased with the advances that they had made in regards to their mate, because that was what Tonio was, his mate. Arguing, screaming and trying to alter how he felt was not going to get him anywhere, at the end of the day it wasn't going to do him any good by trying to fight with himself. In the early years after he had undergone the traumatic experiments, John had waged war with himself, trying to control his other side. The more animalistic side of him had rebelled at the attempted containment, lashing out with it’s claws and fangs. More often than not John was left exhausted after the encounters, so he decided to try a different tactic. He decided to try and find out what animal he had been fused with, he had quickly ruled out more of the well known ones. He wasn't bulky or strong enough to be a bear and from what he had been able to glimpse of it, it was feline in nature. 

Tigers, panthers and leopards were ruled out incredibly quickly, it wasn't bulky enough to be a tiger, the wrong colour to be a pather and it lacked the distinctive spots of a leopard. He was able to rule out jaguar as well, slowly but surely John began to whittle down the list until he came to the only possible conclusion. 

American lion, Felis concolor, Mexican lion, Puma concolor, catamount, cougar, mountain lion, or whatever else people called it.

Thus began John’s long journey into research, an incredibly long and boring journey. 

_ The puma is active mostly at dusk, night, and dawn. Throughout its range its primary prey is hoofed mammals, especially deer larger than itself. In North America each puma kills about 48 ungulates per year and a larger number of smaller prey, including rabbits and hares, coyotes, bobcats, porcupines, beavers, opossums, raccoons, skunks, and other pumas. Domestic livestock, especially sheep, goats, and young calves, are also taken. It is rare for pumas to feed on carcasses that they did not kill. When hunting, a puma moves about 10 km (6 miles) per night, hunting in several travel bouts averaging 1.2 hours each. Traveling alternates with shorter periods of stalking, waiting in ambush, or resting. Slower than most of its prey, it springs from cover at close range, usually from behind the intended victim. When feeding on a large mammal, it minimizes spoilage and loss to scavengers by dragging the carcass to a secluded cache site and covering it with leaves and debris. During the day the cat commonly beds within 50 metres of the carcass, and it will feed for an average of three nights on a large kill. Except when feeding on large prey, a puma rarely beds in the same location on successive days. _

_ Since 1950 pumas have been eliminated from the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, and West Virginia. Until the 1960s pumas were taken by U.S. government hunters and subject to state bounties. Since 1970 control efforts in the United States and Canada have focused on known livestock killers, and most states and provinces now manage populations for sustained sport hunting. In most of the western United States and Canada, populations of mountain lions (P. concolor concolor) are thought to be stable or increasing except where habitat is being fragmented by urban sprawl. _

_ Although cougars are elusive and usually avoid people, there are about four attacks and one fatality per year on humans in the United States and Canada. Most victims are children or adults traveling alone. Risk can be minimized by walking in groups and keeping children within sight. An aggressive human response can avert an impending attack and can repel an attack in progress. _

_The power and stealth of the puma have come to epitomize the wilderness, and the cat has therefore received prominent consideration in conservation and recovery efforts. For example, habitat corridors are planned between large natural areas in order to benefit large carnivores such as the puma. Research has demonstrated that dispersing pumas readily find and use habitat corridors, and radio tracking of these wide-ranging predators can be used to identify appropriate areas to conserve as corridors. Concolor is the only species of the genus Puma. Until 1995 pumas were classified in the genus Felis, which formerly included many much-smaller and less-vocal cats but not the jaguar (Panthera onca)._

John had wanted to bang his head against the wall after he had finished reading the rather boring and drier than the desert books, it was all fact and it hadn't been put in an interesting way either. No wonder people avoided research so much if this was what they had to deal with, boring facts and tasteless books. Yet despite it all John had managed to learn a few things. However that had been years ago and now John was more at peace with himself, which was why he had heard the familiar rumbling in the back of his head he chose to listen to it, these days he always listened to his other side. It had never steered him wrong so far which was a good thing considering his line of work, so when it began to make a noise about Tonio he stopped what he was doing and listened to it. 

Mate, Mate, Mate, Mate. 

The constant chanting that echoed through his mind was borderline obsessive, but John knew that to an animal it wasn't classed as obsessive, it was classed as natural selection. In this case the best mate was Anthony Stark, he had power, wealth, status and wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty when he needed to. It was no wonder that it appealed to John’s other side, John wondered if this was what Bruce Banner went through or if he even talked with the Hulk. It was entirely possible that he didn't have any contact with the Hulk and John wasn't about to go looking for the man just to ask him that.

There was a very fine line between bravery and stupidity, John ignored the ringing of his phone; he didn't have to look at it to know that it was Winston calling him. For some reason the older man had taken to calling John at all times of the day and night, it had gotten annoying very quickly and John had taken to ignoring his phone. He wasn't going to listen to people tell him that this was a bad idea, that he was going to get hurt. Or the more classic line was that Tony was a playboy and didn't do commitment, that John was going to end up as a notch on Tony’s bedpost. John wondered if stupidity was contagious, it most certainly seemed like it. 

John had thought that Winston would have seen through the mask that Tonio had carefully created for the public, but it appeared that he was wrong. While it stung slightly that Winston of all people would have fallen for what would be classed as a cheap trick, John tried not to let it hurt him too much, even though he considered Winston as a father figure. John wasn't going to touch the whole issue with the Elder with a hundred foot barge pole, not now, not ever.

John hoped that Winston would eventually get the message and stop ringing him, well that was hope. Logically John knew that Winston wasn't going to give up, but that didn't mean that he couldn't hope or wish for some sort of intervention. Truthfully John had no idea what Winston’s problem with Tonio was, Winston had been just as promiscuous if not more so than Tonio when he had been younger. So it wasn't as if Winston had a leg to stand on when it came to sexual exploits, Winston had a son from one of his exploits. The Administrator was Winston’s biological son, it was the best and worst kept secret in the underworld and that was saying something. The fact that his own son had wanted nothing to do with him told everyone just how much of a shitty parent Winston was and it wasn't as if anyone could really blame the man, Winston was many things but he wasn't a loving parent. 

It also didn't help that Winston had no idea who his son's mother was, the only thing he could remember was an orgy and even that was a vague recollection. All in all Winston had lost any and all points that he had gained over the years with his estranged son, it also didn't help that their fights were legendary as well, the last time the two men fought the the High table had to call an intervention meeting because the Administrator was threatening to black list the Continental. That hadn't gone down very well with Winston and the older man had called the younger a spoiled child who needed to get his head out of his arse and into the real world. 

That fight had lasted a week. 

But thinking about such things was not going to get anything done, he needed a plan and one that didn't involve getting caught in the middle of another family dispute, that was the last thing that he wanted or needed. Although he was curious as to just who the Administrator’s mother was, the man was very tight lipped about who she was and no one had been successful in getting the information out of him. Truth be told it was something of a game for many of them, one that John wasn't interested in taking part in, he had other things to do. 

Such as Tonio.

As soon as Tonio got back they were going to talk and John did actually mean talk, not fuck each others brains out then not speak about the attraction that was simmering under the skin. John knew that Tonio was just as affected as he was by the whole situation, but unlike John who had been contemplating doing something about it Tonio had shoved it into a box inside his mind and refused to acknowledge it. However John wasn't going to allow Tonio to ignore it any longer, things had been simmering since they had first met, the attraction had been there since the beginning and no amount of ignoring it or trying to hide from it would make it go away, despite what the other man thought. 

It was time that they both faced it, hopefully together. 

* * *

Tony knew that something was going on, from the moment he had awoken on the morning there had been some sort of strange energy in the air, he had felt on edge all day. He had been able to power through the updates for SI and had even sent a few new toys over to R&D, truth be told Tony was tired of the weapons, of the blood and the death. He was known as the Merchant of Death yet it hadn't been him that had started the company on the path that it was on, no that had been his dear old dad. Yet every time he had tried to change direction he had been blocked by Obidiah and the board but mainly Obidiah, Tony idly contemplated getting rid of the man. Playing these games was tiring and more than a bit annoying. Was it wrong to want to change?

Tony didn't think so, he knew that John was tired of being in the underworld as well, and while John had a free pass because he was guarding him there wasn't any guarantee that John would remain with him. His courters had proven that, that was something that he needed to address as well. His favourite assassins. John had explained the situation to and while the other man looked highly uncomfortable doing it, it was clear that John respected their decision. The small traces of awe that Tony had been able to see in John’s eyes told far more than what his words did, Tony wasn't sure if he should be envious or not. But Tony knew that the three women only had eyes for each other, which was something that he was envious about. He hadn't seen a more loving or stable relationship, Ana and Edwin didn't count, not anymore. 

Tony wanted something like that, something that was loving and stable, something that would last throughout the ages. There was no guarantee that it was going to last with John but the thing was no one knew that sort of thing all anyone could do was hope that it would work. 

Hope, that was something that Tony had never really experienced if he was being honest with himself, his life had been one bitter disappointment after another, nothing good came his way and he knew that. 

Yet here he was hoping that maybe just maybe he could have a relationship with John. That perhaps he could have something good in his life, that maybe he did deserve something good. All his life he had been paying other people's debts, be it Howard’s and Maria's debts, or the supposed debt to Obidiah for taking him in. 

Truth was Tony owed that man nothing. 

There was no love between either of them; all Obidiah used him for was a cash cow, so long as Obidiah kept him alive, Tony was able to make him more money. But Tony knew that Obidiah was getting tired of the scraps that he was getting, he had heard the rumours about kidnap and assassination. Tony wouldn't put it past Obidiah to do such a thing, he already knew that the other man was in bed with HYDRA, he had proof yet there was no one that he could give such information to, as far as the world was concerned HYDRA was dead. If they only knew, Tony had been monitoring them for years, SHIELD wasn't equipped to deal with HYDRA. Not with how infected SHIELD was, if he reported HYDRA to SHIELD then it would end up right back up at HYDRA and all the progress that he had made in dismantling them would be undone.

That wasn't something that he could allow, not after all the time he had spent trying to dismantle it, the world didn't need any more problems and HYDRA was a major problem that needed to be dealt with and quickly. Unfortunately it had been him, there had been no help and it wasn't as if he could ask anyone either. The underworld wouldn't get involved with HYDRA, not for lack of manpower or skills but mainly because HYDRA hadn't done anything to piss them off. As far as Tony knew the only way that the underworld would get involved was if HYDRA kidnapped him or targeted him which they hadn't directly done. They had targeted him via Stane, which wasn't the same as directly targeting him. 

So Tony was stuck in the middle, with nowhere to go and no one to help him. 

Although he could ask his three favourite ladies if they were free for a week or two, he knew that they would have no issue with doing him a favour or two and considering they were courting him, he knew that they would jump at the chance to help. Tony felt a tiny twinge of sympathy for HYDRA, just a tiny one. The three of them were ruthless, dangerous and had more kills combined than the whole population of America and Europe combined. Tony would admit that he openly gaped when he had heard their combined total, the varying ways had been downright scary as well. Tony was glad that they had decided that they were fond of him, he did not want them three to be his enemies. 

Which got him thinking, the three of them were very well connected in the underworld and had more favours owed to them than pages in the bible, which was beyond shocking because how?

He had always known that there was more to them than what met the eye and he had never really bothered to find out just what it was, after all it wasn't as if they had done him any harm. Then there was the Administrator as well, he had been eager and more than happy to assign them to him, now that he was thinking about it, it was strange. No it was more than that, it was highly suspicious. 

Tony made a mental note to look into why the three of them had been assigned to him, while he was cursing himself in every language that he knew, he felt as if it wasn't a harmful reason. That whatever the reason it wasn't meant to harm him and more often than not he listened to his instincts, they very rarely if ever led him wrong. After all they had been right about Potts, Rhodes and Hogan. 

So it was a very safe bet that they were right once again, that didn't mean that he wasn't going to keep an eye on the three of them, he was. But he would have to be discreet about it, very discreet.

* * *

Sometimes he wished that he had chosen a different line of work, but he had decided that he wanted to follow in his mother's footsteps, to the outside world he was known as the Administrator. But to his family he was simply Garrick, not the best name granted but he did have three of the most notorious families as his family. Still they were his family, just like Tony Stark was his brother. 

Adopted brother, but still his brother nonetheless. 

Blood didn't always make a family and he knew that now, after all he had Winston as a shitty excuse for a father, not that he truly blamed the man. It was hard being a loving parent and run one of the most influential hotel empires across the world, that was without the hitmen and women under his command. It wasn't the best or safest place to raise a child, unfortunately the people that Winston had left him with were more interested in money than looking after him. He ended up being sold into slavery, thankfully he had only been in the ‘training’ camp for a month before his mothers had came in guns blazing and death following in their footsteps. That had been his first real taste of the dark side of life, even now he can still remember Phantom twirling her blades as she carved her way through the guards. How Wediago laughed as she ran through the chaos, twin silver guns gleamed as she shot each guard that she came across. Never missing a single shot, but his fondest part of the memory was watching Nightingale enter. 

She had been dressed in a three piece suit, a porcelain mask on her face as silver hair billowed around her. She had been so calm as she walked into the room, each step was carefully measured. 

It was then and there that he had decided that he wanted to be like her, he wanted that level of calmness, to be in control even when it appeared that the situation was anything but. 

Then he watched as she pulled out a knife and threw it, he can still remember the awe that he felt as the knife soared through the air and hit the leader right in the middle of his forehead. The fact she had only used a single knife and hadn't moved at all? 

He had fallen in love or rather what he thought was love at the time. 

He remembered following after them as they left, his small legs barely able to keep up with their longer ones, sometimes when he thought about that day he could still feel the terror that gripped his heart as they began to leave. Leaving him behind in the dark, he didn't like the dark, to him the dark brought pain. Stumbling after them he found them waiting for him at the entrance, the relief that he had felt had almost taken him off his feet. 

From that day forwards he had a family, a crazy and insane family but they were still his. Garrick blinked as he felt a warm hand on his cheek dragging him out of his dark thoughts, thoughts that should stay in the past where they belonged. 

“Mama?” The question in his voice wasn't missed, his dark eyes met her fuschia ones. 

“Thinking about the past again?” There was no judgement in her eyes as she placed a kiss on his forehead, oh how he had missed her. 

“Where are the mother and mum?” He looked behind his mama trying to see if the others were going to appear behind her.

“Doing a last check on Tony.” Garrick smiled slightly as he heard his brother's name, honestly Tony got into all sorts of trouble. 

Sometimes it was amusing watching the footage of Tony simply being Tony and other times it was worrying, seeing him getting drugged and kidnapped was not something that he enjoyed watching, thankfully the others had been rather swift and brutal with their retribution. Truthfully Garrick couldn't remember a time when Tony wasn't his brother, not that Tony actually knew that he had been adopted into the family, it wasn't the sort of thing that got advertised. If they did that then Tony would have an even bigger target on his back and they might not be able to protect him, assigning their mothers to him was one of the most devious and underhanded things that Garrick had ever done.

His mothers had been so proud of him, not that they weren't always proud of him. They were but it was nice to see their lessons pay off and watching as their son twisted the rulebook to suit his needs? 

It was a thing of beauty but it was to be expected, after all he was their son and he was very proud of that fact. 

* * *

Their days were numbered and they knew that, it was a fact of life and something that they knew and understood. The only thing that they could hope for was that their family would survive, not the criminal side of it. But Garrick and Tony, the most precious beings to them. There was the matter of John Wick as well, despite the fact that they had not gone up against the man during the trials for Tony’s protection, they knew that he was most likely the best thing that would and could ever happen to Tony. That didn't mean that they had to like it, in fact as far as they were concerned John had done very little to earn their respect. His kill count didn't count. 

They needed to test him, that meant fighting on his level. That meant not using their regenerative abilities, which was something that they weren't too bothered about. It would make things difficult but to make sure that John was worthy of Tony? 

They would do it. 

All it would take was a special mixture that they would need to make, but it would be worth it if John was able to beat them. John would be fighting at a disadvantage to begin with as it would be a three versus one match, but while they had far more skill, experience. John would be the one who had far more to lose because John would be fighting for Tony. Tony who was worth far more than what he had ever received, they couldn't be in the light with him, they belonged in the shadows. Despite how much they loved him, they simply couldn't take the risk that their enemies would put two and two together. 

Things were moving at a fast pace but in what direction they didn't know, all they could was hope that they had prepared their family enough. 

* * *

By the time Tony had returned home it was dark and there was only him on the streets, which was the way that he preferred it, he did his best thinking when he was alone. He had finally come to the conclusion that trying to hide from his feelings for John wasn't going to get him anywhere, he wasn't admitting defeat he was accepting the fact that he was completely and utterly in love with John Wick. 

Now he needed to do something about it, it wasn't as if he could just stuff it into a box and hope that it went away. Which meant that he could either accept his feelings or try to live the rest of his life in denial, which didn't sound all that appealing.

"Tonio."

Tony paused and looked over at John, it looked like he had run out of time, he had a decision to make.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is greatly appreciated.

**Author's Note:**

> Tell us your thoughts please, also hope you enjoyed it.


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